


Take Two

by get_blasted



Category: To the Moon Series (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, References to Shakespeare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:01:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27611074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/get_blasted/pseuds/get_blasted
Summary: Neil recalls his first kiss.
Relationships: Eva Rosalene/Neil Watts
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Take Two

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to my dear friend [Julius_Ranch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Julius_Ranch) for the title!

_“I’ve never done this before.”_

_“I haven’t either, but we’ll figure it out together, alright?”_

_“Just like we always do, huh?”_

_“Heh, yeah…”_

“Blech.”

Neil stuck out his tongue at the memory playing out in front of them. The two, their present-day client and her eventual wife-to-be, were frozen in time, their lips pressed together in a chaste show of affection.

“What?”

“This is the third first kiss we’ve seen this week, and it’s only Wednesday.”

Eva shrugged her shoulders, grabbing the memento herself, since Neil seemed absorbed in his own annoyance. “So? It’s typically a pretty formative memory in a young teenager’s life.”

Neil scoffed.

“Not me. My first kiss sucked,” he said. “Totally overrated.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, well, you should be -- you were there.”

“What?”

“Yeah! You don’t remember?”

Eva fixed him with a look that said _no, I don’t,_ and Neil recited a few lines to jog her memory.

“I hear you were quickly wasting away without me…”

_“Oh, shut up. I’ll... stop your mouth!”_

_Neil didn’t have to have memorized the script to know what came next. Still, his feet felt firmly set-in to the wooden stage, its varnish shining under the blinding spotlight. They hadn’t rehearsed this — or maybe they had. He had only shown up to a handful of rehearsals, figuring he’d remembered enough of Benedick’s lines from the unit they’d studied Shakespeare in English class. Now, he felt like he was on the receiving end of one of his pranks, shoes glued to the floor. Regret had begun to pool at the bottom of his stomach. Why hadn’t he just shown up!?_

_Cool as always, Eva’s intense gaze didn’t falter. Her lips moved in the familiar shape of words he had heard many times before:_

_“Don’t blow this.”_

_Neil swallowed hard._

_Eva’s words swimming in his ears, Neil stepped forward, hands quickly moving beneath Eva’s long curtain of hair, thumbs settling beneath the curve of her jaw as he seized her face and pulled her, swiftly, into a kiss. It lasted both seconds and minutes, and Neil almost forgot to part from her at his cue: “How dost thou, Benedick, the married man?”_

“That was a stage kiss.”

There was a pause as Neil thought before replying: “I mean… yeah. So?”

“So it was in the script. It wasn’t an organic kiss.”

“Does it have to be organic?”

“Well… yeah. I think. It’s not cheating when actors have to kiss for a role. I think a first kiss is less about the kiss itself and more what it means, if these memories are anything to go by.”

Eva spared a glance toward Jodie and Maria, momentarily forgetting how lost she had gotten in Neil’s question. They hadn’t moved, still mid-kiss, clumsy lips meshed against one another.

“Well, that’s a lot cornier than I thought you were going to get.”

“Hey, if the script calls for it.” Eva paused. “Why do you bring it up, anyway? You want a do-over?”

Neil thought for a moment, turning the possibility over in his mind. He doesn’t entertain it for long.

“I wouldn’t redo high school for some dumb kiss if you paid me to.”

* * *

“Eva.”

Eva watched as Neil’s eyes widened from behind his foggy glasses. She stepped inside as he pressed his back flat against his front door. “Look, I don’t know what Roxie told you, but I haven’t looked at your diary since Christmas,” he said.

Ignoring his words, Eva looked at him as he pushed the door to its frame. Her lip curled upward in a coy smile.

“I won’t say no to you, but let it be known that I’m only doing this after a lot of persuasion,” she said, enjoying the look of realization that slowly dawned on Neil’s face, “and to save your life.”

“Eva…”

She stepped toward him. “I hear you were quickly wasting away without me.”

A beat of silence followed as Neil contemplated his next move.

“Shut up. I’ll stop your mouth.”

“Don’t blow it, Neil.”

He huffed breathless, nervous laughter in reply.

Seeing he didn’t have the nerve, Eva took the initiative. She stepped forward and placed her hands on his arms, sweeping down to his wrists, and connecting his hands to her face.

“Clammy. Guess not much has changed.”

That seemed to loosen the death-grip Neil’s nerves had on him. “They were clammy?”

Eva smiled.

“Kiss me, moron.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's up to your interpretation whether or not that last scene is a fantasy. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
